A Final Grand Stand (Episode)
A Final Grand Stand (最終的なグランドスタンド, Saishū-tekina Gurandosutando) is the twenty-first episode of Mobile Suit Stardust Gundam. Summary The maintenance team of the EUS-0098 Grissomm rush about the exterior and interior of the ship, attempting to fix enough so that they can actually fly again. At the same time, a narration plays, recapping all that happened during the previous episode and the situation the crew of the Grissomm face now. Doralus can only sit on his seat in the bridge while he thinks out-loud about how often the Grissomm gets downed. Mirai can only tell him to calm down while she makes sure the console that controls the steering of the ship didn't get any major damage from the last attack. Jason, while sitting at his station to the right, can't help but remind everyone that the reason they were downed in the first place was because of Doralus' hasty orders. Doralus just sneers at him as he complains about needing to down some alcohol, then just gets up and leaves the bridge. Mirai calls out Jason for all of his teasing, Jason only capable of saying that "it's fun" in his defense. She sighs while she looks outside into the desert beyond, wondering to herself when the enemy will attack. Sigro, in all of this time, has sat in his cell in complete silence and darkness, wondering about everything that's happened. That's about the only thing he can do at this point; reflection. He's soon visited by Anima, who just wants to talk to him. She's wondering what was going through his mind, him only responding that it was just selfishness. He says that he feels like he can perceive his own self now, how he acts, how he behaves, how he is. Anima, seeing this as only an excuse, calls him out on it. She also says that he's right; he is selfish, and walks off. Sigro just sits in silence again. Meanwhile, in the day that's past since the attack, Dagan Ragea has met back up with his troops again, and is now planning a new assault on the ship. He plans to have ground forces board the ship and systematically kill the crew while also taking the ship over. Jess Morma has doubts about the plan, but doesn't voice them, instead preferring to just keep quiet while Dagan assigns roles to his soldiers for this operation. He says that this is going to have to use as very little resources as possible, since just about the only equipment they have is small infantry carriers and three AMS-1001 Aryans now. Back on the Grissomm, Deva says that the ship has become gloomy now while in the company of Kara. Kara tries to convince her that it hasn't, but she can't help but think so too, especially after Sigro came back. Deva asks if she can go see Sigro, Kara saying that they'll see him when he gets out of that cell. Deva just stays silent while she draws the Stardust with crayon. In the captain's quarters, Doralus rests on the bed inside, looking at the ceiling while he contemplates to himself the fate of this ship if more attacks from the Arians keep happening. Armen then asks to come in, Doralus saying that she can from his bed while she walks in. He asks why he hasn't seen her in the last few days, Armen saying that she's been dealing with the injured that keep flooding her medical bay whenever they get attacked. It's only now that she can actually talk to anyone that isn't just the regular crew. She then asks him about that headache of his, Doralus groaning as he turns in the bed, saying that it feels like "nails rubbing against his head". Due to the amount of people waiting to be treated, Armen tells him that he'll have to endure it for just a little while longer, with the hope that there's no more attacks. However, as if to beat down those hopes, the alarm sounds as an alert about the enemy approaching them comes in. Doralus rushes out of his room, Armen soon following as they head to the bridge. As soon as the two get there, Doralus immediately asks if the ship is capable of flying, Mirai saying that it can, though only a mere 20 meters off the ground. Doralus orders that the Grissomm get off the ground so that they can run, saying they can't afford to waste more time being stuck in their territory. Outside, the infantry carriers, about six of them, head towards the Grissomm, with their contents beings dozens upon dozens of soldiers packed inside. One of them also carries Dagan and a massive set of explosives meant to down the ship if they can't take it. Acting as support are the three Aryans, one of which is missing an arm from the last attack, which fire upon the Grissomm and attract the attention of its weaponry so that the carriers can board the ship without incident. Doralus sees the carriers and orders that all hands not at the main weaponry of the ship arm themselves, and has the bridge crew get weapons as well. Soon, the MHWMA-13580 Doraga Fighter, with Anima inside, launches and works to draw the attention of the Aryans away from the ship. One of the carriers lands on the ship, though, and starts to flood out the soldiers from its interior, all armed with machine guns. They all rush to the airlocks, which they strap heavy duty plastic explosives to and ignite, blowing open an entrance to the Grissomm. Takumi comes by Kara's room, where she and Deva are, and arms Kara. He and Kara tell Deva to hide in there while they lock the door behind them and run off to the launch bay. The two run down the hallways while Kara expresses the fact that she's never shot someone before, Takumi trying to calm her down to the best of his ability until they run across a group of Arian soldiers down the hall. They hide in the corner while Takumi takes the gun and fires down the the hall without the group noticing their presence, eliminating them. Kara is left in shock by how easily Takumi took their lives and the sight of their riddled bodies, before Takumi takes her by the hand to the launch bay. Outside, one of the carriers is blown out of the sky, while the one carrying Dagan lands safely with another one. Dagan comes out, ordering his troops to take the explosives inside with them and plant them in the locations they were told to. Dagan looks as the carrier that was shot burns on the ground below before being passed over by the Grissomm. He then follows his troops into the ship. Doralus has officers hold up behind the sides of the door to the bridge while he asks for a status report on the Arian soldiers' progress through the ship, with it being believed that they're only in a small location in the back of the ship. Meanwhile, Sigro sits in his cell, watching the outside of the cell in shadows, listening to the firefight that has broken out both in and outside the ship. He can feel people approaching, so he hides more into the shadows, yelling for help, that he's a prisoner. Soon, a pair of Arian troops come by, and believe this story, using their guns to fire off the lock. Sigro quickly acts, jumping out of the shadows and grabbing hold of the gun from the man, and holds it against the two. The two, unable to reach for their other weaponry quickly enough, raise their arms up as Sigro backs away, before twisting and running down the hallway, away from the troops. He's heading for the launch bay. Outside, Anima is fighting off the Aryans still, one of them having turned their attention onto it. That unit, however, is hit by a small missile at its back, where its URGE Drive was located, leading to it exploding next to its two friends. The two Aryans back away from the explosion radius before seeing the last infantry carrier landing on board the ship. Their role over, they turn their attention to the Doraga, attempting to drop it from the sky. Caught off guard, the Doraga is hit by the bullet fire, but the armor manages to hold for now. The constant destabilization of her flight, however, forces Anima to stop her attack to reorient herself. Inside the launch bay, the Arian troops are inside, attacking the technicians and engineers inside, who're also armed to the teeth. This leads to a firefight inside the launch bay, the engineers attempting to protect the MC2MS-13579 Stardust Gundam, which they've left unattended up until now due to repairing the ship. That is when Takumi and Kara appear behind the Arian soldiers, Takumi firing on them, most of them falling to the ground and bleeding profusely. However, some of the Arian troops have planted plastic explosives onto the MLRMA-13582 Reprisal Fighter, heavily damaging it and rendering it immobile. When the same is attempted to the MHM2A-13581 Hawkmey Fighter, Takumi manages to kill the small group before they do anything else. The engineers keep Takumi protected as he and the usual group that goes into the Hawkmay, launch off to fight against the Aryans outside. Before, however, Takumi handed Kara the machine gun and told her to head for the bridge, then tells her how to operate the weapon. Kara, however, prefers to just sneak around; she can't stand the idea of killing someone, even though she's probably killed while in the Reprisal. She just can't stomach knowing that she's taken a human life and having it happen in full view. Throughout the halls, Dagan is strolling through stable places in the ship, looking over the bloodbaths left all over the floor and walls. He is called up by one of his troops and told that there's a secondary bridge, and its taken over. Dagan heads over to where it is with his group, while ordering the destruction of the main bridge by his troops in the Aryans. However, the plan is ruined by Jason managing to figure out and break into the unsecure line of communication the attackers had been using. Doralus orders that Mirai make the ship fly in a straight line through the empty terrain while they evacuate the bridge. They do so, just before the bridge is hit by machine gun fire from one of the Aryans. However, it is then bombarded by heavy vulcan fire from the Hawkmey, causing it to fall over, immobile. Doralus separates from the group so that he can at least fight off the Arian troops along the way while the rest head down a safe route. Sigro, meanwhile, is still heading for the launch bay, before making a turn and finding himself right in front of Dagan and his troops. Sigro manages to fire upon them before they have the chance to react, Dagan managing to duck down before the soldiers behind him are hit and killed. Sigro ducks back into the hall he came from and runs off, before Dagan realizes he's going the direction of the secondary bridge. Sigro manages to run away from Dagan, but ends up running into a group of Arian troops down the other end of the hall, their weapons armed on him. However, gunfire hits the group from behind coming from Doralus. The two meet up, Doralus telling Sigro to head to the launch bay from another place. The two separate as Doralus heads to the secondary bridge, while Sigro runs off. Doralus manages to get inside, and see the completely differently structured bridge from the usual one. He manages to get into a position to fire down any incoming Arian forces. However, the bridge crew manages to come, Doralus getting them inside while he keeps a look out for any enemies. Armen manages to convince him to lock the door and give her the gun so she can do it. Doralus doesn't want that initially, but he reluctantly lets her do it while he orders that Mirai turn the ship away from the Aryans mobile suits outside. In the launch bay, the Arian forces have been cleared out while Sigro appears. The engineers almost fire on him before realizing who it is. They tell him that they've managed to reload the Stardust with its usual weaponry, Sigro thanking them before getting in the cockpit and launching out. Immediately, he fires on the single Aryan, it immediately dodging out of the way before attempting to fire on the Stardust. Sigro rushes at it with a beam saber, before it rushes past him and heads for the Grissomm. Meanwhile, Dagan has arrived at the secondary bridge, his troops being fired on by Armen. She's phased by the fact that she's taken a life before being fired upon again. She manages to get over it and fires on more of them, Dagan reconsidering when he realizes that this is impossible. He wants to head for the communications bay, which is elsewhere in this deck of the ship. Doralus decides to switch to being on the offensive, taking the bridge crew willing to attack, including Mirai, Jason, and Armen. Dagan and his troops past the corner as they head to their final destination, only to find Kara on the other end of the hall. Kara ducks back to where she came from before they open fire, her screaming in fear of being killed. She holds onto the machine gun and coddles it for protection. That is when one of the soldiers turns the corner so he can fire upon Kara. Kara, about to die, feels as though something deep inside her bursts out, shortly before she instinctively raises the machine gun at the soldier before he has any time to react to it. His body is riddled with bullets, blood gushing out onto the ground as his corpse lies against the wall of the hall opposite Kara. She's phased by this development, frozen in shock as her eyes stare at the sight. Dagan and his troops turn the corner and see the almost catatonic Kara on the floor. He makes his men hold fire and run off to where they're going. Dagan observes the young girl with the machine gun besides her and can only respond in horror, that the Earth Union is making children fight its battles. Soon, Doralus and his group turn the corner and try to fire on Dagan, him managing to run off back to his troops. Jason and Mirai get a hold on Kara and take her to the secondary bridge, leaving Doralus, Armen, and the rest of the group to chase Dagan down. Doralus figures out where they're going by the halls they pass, and sends off Armen to do something he whispers to her. She runs back to the secondary bridge while Doralus keeps his pursuit on the Arians in his ship. Outside, Sigro and the Aryan have gotten into close quarters combat, as the two collide against the Grissomm's side, forcing the people inside down while making the ship shift direction. Mirai manages to readjust it just moments after getting to the secondary bridge with Jason and Kara. Jason sits Kara to the corner while he operates his normal duties. He manages to get a display up for the outside, showing the back of the Stardust covering the view. Sigro is being pushed back against the Grissomm by the Aryan. As it pulls out a Heat Knife, something inside Sigro snaps once more, as he screams while pushing the enemy mobile suit off. That's when he gets called up from the secondary bridge. Dagan, meanwhile, has arrived at the communications bay, where he has his men set up a link to the ABS-EF1002 Lance-class. The ship was given two commands before Dagan took off on his operation: either await for their return or flee back deep into Arian territory. Dagan now sends a message to the ship and, more specifically, Jess, who was left behind so that she wouldn't have to see the brutality, that he isn't going to make it. Everyone there understands what he means and defers command to Jess, who was put as commander of the ship before Dagan left. She reluctantly follows his commands and orders that the ship turn around and head back to more safer land, all the while managing to hold back her tears. Dagan sighs as he steps away from the console, pulling out a sidearm as he prepares to go out fighting. It doesn't end that way, however, as the Stardust blasts away at the exterior hull of the ship, covering the communications bay. Everyone is killed on impact, besides Dagan due to be being at the entrance of the room. He, however, is gravely injured as he looks at the Stardust right outside. Soon, the door is unlocked, Doralus and his group aimming their weapons at Dagan. Dagan, realizing that he's about to die, begins to talk directly to Sigro, who he knows is inside the Stardust. He posits about the nature of this conflict, the belief he has as a soldier, and the will of the Arians which fight for their independence. He continues by saying that he sees that will in Sigro, that will to be free, and how it is caged up within the Grissomm and its Earth Union crew. In fact, to Dagan, it's become clear that the Grissomm is simply living "in a bigger prison." He ends by stating that he won't let himself be caged by the Earth Union, that he'd rather die by his own hands than by the hands of his enemy. That is when he puts his sidearm to his head, looking at the Stardust while Doralus and his men just look on, realizing what's about to happen. Sigro tries to prevent it with the Stardust, but Dagan simply jumps off the hole, the gun still to his head. He shoots himself in the head a moment before his corpse lands within the grasp of the Stardust. The cockpit hatch opens and Sigro can only stare at the prone body of what was formerly Dagan Ragea. Later on, at night, the Grissomm is being patched up by what remains of the repair crews, while many of the other surviving personel attempt to clean the blood and gore the Arians made with both themselves and the unfortunate members of the Grissomm's crew. Takumi opens the door to Kara's room, where Deva is still hiding. He picks her up and coddles her, telling her that she did a great job of hiding, but she can only look on sorrowfully, as if feeling the death that had been left behind inside the ship. A filled body bag, presumably with Dagan inside, is dragged out of the communications bay, while Sigro and Doralus sit outside. Doralus can only ask Sigro about how he feels, Sigro just saying that it feels like someone out there is crying over Dagan. Doralus apologizes for his harsh interactions with Sigro, with the shock of what's happened today finally sinking in for him as he heads off to his quarters. Sigro gets up and goes into the destroyed bay, looking outside the hole to see the Stardust still outside, in the position it had been in when Dagan died. Sigro looks at the outreached hand of the Stardust, staining in blood that a few people are attempting to scrub off before moving the mobile suit back into the launch bay. Soon, Sigro returns to his room, a mess of a place that's littered in scattered bits and pieces of machinery, with a sole bed and table. Sigro goes to throw out the junk before Anima comes by, having found out Sigro was let out of the brig. Anima can only say sorry to him, like Doralus before her, and hopes that Sigro feels alright. Sigro just says that he is okay and faintly smiling to her, before he goes off to get rid of the junk inside of his room. However, Sigro still can feel the sensation that someone, somewhere, is crying their eyes out at this moment. While on board the Lance, Jess, now situated in Dagan's former quarters, sits in the corner, crying over and mourning his death. Trivia